Huge 8.9 quake hits Japan

[Kagath]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110311/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_earthquake

2:15am est here now and they are showing some live video in Japan of it happening. Absolutely unreal. Air view of the wave coming in to shore.

Be Safe West Coasters where ever you are.

[leo8877]

Tsunami looks to be doing some serious damage too.

[Kagath]

Tsunami looks to be doing some serious damage too.

Some crazy video of it on CNN.

[CeeKay]

holy sh!t.....  where was Canuck living over there again?

[edit] looking at past posts looks like he should be safe in Tokyo.

Tsunami looks to be doing some serious damage too.

Some crazy video of it on CNN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6aZGY7yhc0&feature=player_embedded

some of the other stuff they're showing on TV is even more crazy.

[metallicorphan]

just got in now,and saw it on the news,seems to be a new Earthquake every month now around the world

the reports are saying(ATM) that there are at least 60 people dead,with another 56 or so missing,but there is also a separate report saying that a boat with 100 people were swept away,but not sure what has become of it or if they are included in the death toll


its the biggest recorded Earthquake recorded in Japanese history and there has also been up to 19 aftershocks up to now

Low lying areas of the Philippines and Hawaii are being evacuated

from Sky News:..the Earthquake hit at 5:46am GMT

Tsunami waves were due to make landfall at the following times (UK time):

:: 9am - Northern Mariana Islands - no large waves hit
:: 9.17am - Guam - initially appears unaffected
:: 10.02am - Philippines
:: 11:32am - Papua New Guinea
:: 11.35am - Indonesia
:: 1.10pm - Hawaii
:: 2.16pm - Vanuatu
:: 2.53 - Samoa
:: 3.35pm - Australia
:: 4.12pm - US west coast
:: 5.23pm - New Zealand
:: 11.00pm - Easter Island

oh and i thought i would put this here from twitter

HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN HIDEO_KOJIMA
I'm alright.
4 hours ago

[ATB]

Praying and hoping Canuck is ok and will check in soon.

[Purge]

Quake claims 60 lives and climbing.

[metallicorphan]

MSN have breaking news (no report yet) that the Tsunami waves have just hit Hawaii

[Blackjack]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/japan.quake/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1

CNN said it was one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history:

The largest recorded quake took place in Chile on May 22, 1960, with a magnitude of 9.5, the USGS said.

The quake Friday was the fifth-strongest in the world since 1900, the agency said and the most powerful to hit Japan since then.

You can check out some "unvetted" user-contributed video about it here (kinda scattered amongst other things):
http://ireport.cnn.com/recent-updates.jspa

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Are tsunami warnings for the West Coast now. Get to high ground, folks.

[Moliere]

A bunch of pics 

[Blackjack]

More CNN stuff:
Fire on water
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/japan.tsunami.damage/index.html?hpt=T1
The video of the water moving across the farmland and carrying everything in its path is crazy.

(direct video links)
Flood/fire on the move
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2011/03/11/sot.tsunami.hit.japan.cnn
*Cripes, you can sees cars and trucks trying desperately to drive away from the wall of water. Can you imagine? 

Refinery fire video (no audio
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2011/03/11/vos.japan.quake.refinery.fire.nhk
*I read a worrisome news bit on the CNN ticker about nuclear power plants reporting radiation problems of some sort.
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/11/live-blog-japan-earthquake/?hpt=T1

Doesn't sound like the Hawaii stuff is going to be much to worry about beyond damaging some docks and stuff (8 foot waves), at least at this point. Better safe than sorry of course, especially after what happened in Indonesia a few years back.

[LoneStarSpur]

Poor people. 

[Purge]

In the "fire on water" link you can see vehicles fleeing on the bottom left near the end of the video.

[Blackjack]

You'd think this would be all over the TV news, but I just checked. Since it doesn't involve Charlie Sheen ranting and raving, they don't care.  

Sorry for the CNN overkill, but... here's a hi-rez photo gallery they set up:
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/03/world/hires.japan.quake/index.html

[ATB]

Canuck is safe in France...

[LoneStarSpur]

Google Earthquake Crisis Center

[gellar]

Terrifying.  I was there a few days ago when the 7.3M hit (no damage, thankfully).  I can't imagine what this would've been like.

[CeeKay]

Quake claims 60 lives and climbing.

CNN is saying a local news station is reporting 200 to 300 bodies found in Sendai city.

[leo8877]

Eep I'm traveling to Hawaii tomorrow and family that is already there was evacuated last night and sent to high ground.

[metallicorphan]

Quake claims 60 lives and climbing.

CNN is saying a local news station is reporting 200 to 300 bodies found in Sendai city.

I just read that as well,terrible

whatever happened to the Tsunami warning system they were all talking about after the Boxing Day Tsunami?,did that not come about or was Japan not considered as an area it would be needed?

[Arnir]

This is just a guess, but I imagine an earthquake that close to shore would create a Tsunami that would outrun the warning system.  They were just too close to the epicenter.  Just plain not enough time.  This whole thing is a huge tragedy. 

[spigot]

The amount of devastation and carnage is impressive, and scary.

[gellar]

This is just a guess, but I imagine an earthquake that close to shore would create a Tsunami that would outrun the warning system.  They were just too close to the epicenter.  Just plain not enough time.  This whole thing is a huge tragedy. 

That's my understanding as well.  This was just a few miles offshore and was at a very shallow depth.  Near zero chance of warning.

[metallicorphan]

holy crap,i just saw this vid on the news....the destruction at its worse


(the first minute is the part i mean)-just keep watching as it gets closer and closer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4coi8rgULZ4



EDIT:It has just hit the west coast of America(Oregon i think they said)but no damage recorded

[Zekester]

Pretty weird that I just changed my avatar to Godzilla yesterday and when you see what happened in Japan that's what it actually looks like....a Godzilla attack  

One of the videos I watched was of inside an office building while the workers just looked around and did nothing. I think after 9/11 most Americans would be bolting out the doors. I know I would.

There was another report that Japan actually shut down like 7 out of their 9 (guessing here) nuclear reactors as a safety precaution.

Pretty crazy.
 

[Zekester]

holy crap,i just saw this vid on the news....the destruction at its worse


(the first minute is the part i mean)-just keep watching as it gets closer and closer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4coi8rgULZ4



EDIT:It has just hit the west coast of America(Oregon i think they said)but no damage recorded

That video is just incredible. Damn.

[CeeKay]

This is just a guess, but I imagine an earthquake that close to shore would create a Tsunami that would outrun the warning system.  They were just too close to the epicenter.  Just plain not enough time.  This whole thing is a huge tragedy. 

That's my understanding as well.  This was just a few miles offshore and was at a very shallow depth.  Near zero chance of warning.

yeah, iaccording to USGS it was 15.2 miltes deep and about 80 miles off the coast of Sendai.  People were probably still trying to regain their footing, and tsunami's can travel fast.

[Soulchilde]

Canuck you okay?

[CeeKay]

Canuck you okay?

ATB mentioned earlier that Canuck is in France.

[Kagath]

ROTC1983 is in Hawaii last I knew. And I forget who went home to the Indonesia area a couple years ago. Let's hope they're safe as well.

[CeeKay]

ROTC1983 is in Hawaii last I knew. And I forget who went home to the Indonesia area a couple years ago. Let's hope they're safe as well.

I want to say that was Tokek, and Victoria Raverna is out there too.

[CeeKay]

waves have been hitting the West Coast; no major damage reported.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42024659/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

[Moliere]

waves have been hitting the West Coast; no major damage reported.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42024659/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

It would be nice if newscasters didn't sound so excited during disasters. They love the extra attention.

Christian fundamentalists attributing the earthquake on Japan's secular society, homosexuals, and abortionists in 3...2...

[Biyobi]

waves have been hitting the West Coast; no major damage reported.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42024659/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

It would be nice if newscasters didn't sound so excited during disasters. They love the extra attention.

Christian fundamentalists attributing the earthquake on Japan's secular society, homosexuals, and abortionists in 3...2...

I expect a certain Baptist church out of Westboro to be booking plane tickets as soon as they have an airport to land at.

[CeeKay]

waves have been hitting the West Coast; no major damage reported.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42024659/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

It would be nice if newscasters didn't sound so excited during disasters. They love the extra attention.

no kidding.  I was watching one of the early morning news shows and the female anchor looked like she was trying to hide a big grin everytime she started talking.

[Zekester]

waves have been hitting the West Coast; no major damage reported.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42024659/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

It would be nice if newscasters didn't sound so excited during disasters. They love the extra attention.

Christian fundamentalists attributing the earthquake on Japan's secular society, homosexuals, and abortionists in 3...2...

1) stop watching crap like MSNBC, and

2) liberals attributing the earthquake in Japan to something, anything, Gearge Bush did in 3...2...

.

[Razgon]

keep the political debate crap out of this thread please... This is horrible enough.

[naednek]

yes lets knock it off.  We know it was due to Godzilla tripping and falling down.

[Soulchilde]

keep the political debate crap out of this thread please... This is horrible enough.

+1